Gordon: We were second-best
Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon admits his side were second best against AEK Athens in their Champions League qualifying defeat by the Greek side at Murrayfield.
The Jambos, who were fortunate to survive a first-half battering from the visitors, took a shock lead in the 61st minute when midfielder Saulius Mikoliunas netted from close range after Roman Bednar’s first effort had rebounded off the post.
The Edinburgh side’s joy turned to despair four minutes later when Bruno Aguiar was sent off for two yellow cards, the second for knocking the ball away after the home side had conceded a foul in the middle of the park.
The 10-man Hearts team struggled to cope with the power and pace of AEK in the later stages and there was no real surprise when, with a minute of normal time remaining, Pantelis Kapetanos headed a cross by substitute Stavros Tziortziopoulos past the helpless Scotland keeper for a well-deserved equaliser.
However, the Tynecastle men suffered a cruel piece of misfortune deep into injury time when stopper Christophe Berra deflected a shot from Nikolaos Lymperopoulos past the stranded Gordon and into his own net.
Gordon said said: “I don’t think it was case of us not playing well. I just think Athens were by far the better team throughout the game.”
